Hoping the report includes the additional costs to hospitals (and thereby the public) of loss of the Medicaid disproportionate share payments, as well as how much in federal dollars the state stands to lose if Governor Brownback chooses to not expand Medicaid.

Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, and North Dakota, all with Republican governors, have said they support Medicaid expansion. This will be a true test to whether Governor Brownback is more interested in policy or politics.

Some legislators wish to do that. However, Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe, the sponsor of this and several other anti-abortion pieces of legislation, sees an outright attack on Roe v Wade as a losing strategy. He believes that would be struck down by the Supreme Court. Instead, they have spent the last two years trying to regulate away so that abortion remains legal in name, but impossible to actually get in Kansas.

However, trying to stop abortion care in the state is not their end goal. HB 2523 is still before the House Judiciary committee. It would allow an extremely broad expansion of the "conscience" refusal for not only abortion care but also birth control and emergency contraception. In fact, during testimony on the bill on February 15th, the intent from the anti-women Kansans for Life and Kansas Catholic Conference was clear: they want to ban birth control. Like the national attack on no-copay contraception, our state groups want women's sexuality tightly controlled.